


Pengwing

by alexisriversong



Series: COWT 2019 [21]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Crack, Established Relationship, M/M, Sherlock Being Sherlock, Sherlock can't say penguin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 14:17:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18209426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexisriversong/pseuds/alexisriversong
Summary: What the tags say. Sherlock can't say Penguin.





	Pengwing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt: "Penguin" in the COWT challenge.

The first time it happened, John thought it was a fluke, they were almost dying at the time, they had been locked inside the fucking cage in the Aquarium with the fucking Penguins and they were not happy about the intruders. John and Sherlock also were not happy about the bloody freezing temperatures they had been locked in.

Considering their clattering teeth when Lestrade had found them and had called the ambulance after extracting them from the angry mob of penguins, it was not surprising that Sherlock had mispronounced the word. He had clearly heard him say Pengwings.

Considering it was not a very common word that you could use in any conversation, it didn’t really come up again until they had to talk about the tugs that had locked them there in the first place.

“I don’t want to see another pengwing for the rest of my life John! Hideous creatures, why would they even want to have them in the aquarium? It’s not a place for them! They are not fishes!”

Puzzled by the mispronunciation, John tried to see if it was a fluke again or if Sherlock actually couldn’t pronounce the word penguin for some reason.

“Sherlock, what are you talking about? Those animals just reacted by protecting themselves, not their fault”

“Of course it was their fault John! Why couldn’t the fucking pengwings fuck off?”

He kept muttering about how he hated the pengwings and how stupid they were.

That left John smirking, Sherlock really didn’t know how to pronounce the word. It was funny as hell his pronunciation, he wanted to hear him say it again and again, it was so cute!

From that day on, John found stupid ways of making him say the word again and again. It was so funny to listen to his pronunciation. It was like he was saying the wings of the penguins instead of just the right word. He couldn’t stop laughing when he was alone and thinking about it.

It was Lestrade that stopped him and revealed to Sherlock he was mispronouncing.

“You do know that the right pronunciation is Penguin, right?”

“What are you talking about? I’m saying that. Pengwing”

“No… You are wrong Sherlock, I never thought I was going to say this. Like, ever, but you are wrong”

Sherlock frowned, a puzzled look on his face. He really heard no difference between what he said and what the Detective had said. They seemed exactly identical.

“I don’t know what you are saying. There’s no difference between my pronunciation and yours”

“Right” Greg seemed to be having fun with this “Try saying it again, slowly”

“Peeeng… wing”

“Peeeng… uin”

“Pengwin?”

“PengUIN”

“Pengwing”

Lestrade facepalmed and shrugged. “I don’t care, you are a lost case. Keep saying it the way that you want”

Sherlock frowned but left, John following behind.

In the following days, John found him in front of the computer, looking at the various websites he could find about penguins and muttering the word under his breath.

After three days like that, refusing to eat and drink anything but tea, John decided to stop him. He closed the laptop and put himself in front of the genius.

“Stop with this. I love the way you say it, it’s really cute, always thought so. Stop worrying about it”

It was easier said than done though. Once Sherlock had his mind settled on something, no one could distract him until he had gotten what he wanted.

Of course, the fact that John had told him to stop being an idiot about the thing, meant he at least accepted to eat and drink more than just tea.

After approximately two weeks of silence on the matter, Sherlock came to him one morning, really excited, waking him up from his slumber.

“John! John! I did it! I can say it now!”

The ex-soldier was too groggy to even understand what was being said and it took him a little to long to connect Sherlock’s happiness with the penguin thing.

“Are you still going on about that? I thought you had stopped. It’s not even funny anymore” he groaned.

“But Jaaaawn! I can say it now!”

Sighing, John sat up on the bed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Go on then, say it”

“Pen-Gu-In”

“Now say it all together”

“Penguin?”

John grinned up at him then. “Well done Sherlock! You can say it!” he looked at the clock and groaned, 5am… “Can I get back to sleep now?”

Sherlock also looked at the clock and frowned. “I’m sorry John, yes, go back to sleep”

“Thank you”

“…”

“…”

“What’s wrong now?”

“Can I get in bed with you?”

“Sure you idiot. This is YOUR bed too, you know? If only you used it more…”

Sherlock smiled and got into bed with him happily. He stamped a kiss on John’s lips and cuddled next to him. He repeated “Penguin” a couple of times before falling asleep next to his partner and friend. John soon followed him happily, a smile on his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are love!


End file.
